


I (do)n't like him

by Itherael



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, M/M, Missions Gone Wrong, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, Secret Relationship, There's just one slightly major OC but I swear she behaves (she doesn't)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 15:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9664313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itherael/pseuds/Itherael
Summary: According to everyone in Blackwatch, Jesse McCree and Genji Shimada can’t stand each other.The reality, in fact, begs to differ.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Picchio7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Picchio7/gifts).



> Happy Valentine's day! I hope you get tons of chocolate!

Gabriel Reyes liked to consider himself a patient man. Being Commander of one of the most important Black Ops unities, having too many recruits under his command and having to deal with the UN Council and Morrison had helped him develop nerves of steel.

Unfortunately, there were exceptions to that.

Take for example Villablanca, the chilean soldier that followed his orders without complaining, an ideal mission leader when ordered, but who had a tendency to spend her free time with Torbjörn. It wasn’t bad, and he even encouraged her to join Overwatch’s weapon master from time to time, but it was a nightmare when an urgent meeting was taking place and she took her sweet time walking back to Blackwatch’s HQ. Or how she never tended to shut up about prosthetics and how they could be weaponized. Or maybe Zhang, the chinese chemist with a love to explosions and whose experiments had blown away a good portion of Blackwatch’s budget. Still, their bombs had saved many missions so they were excused most of the time.

But then he had the bane of his existence.

Jesse McCree and Genji Shimada.

The pair had a less than stellar relationship, and they were terribly competitive, which gave Gabriel too many grey hairs for his age. Sure, he more often than not encouraged those competitions, since it held high the spirits of his troops, but McCree and Shimada took it to a whole new level. It had only got worse when, while trying to make them get along, they had been assigned as roommates. Since that day, Gabriel Reyes forgot the meaning of the word peace.

They couldn't even be civil to each other, and many of their arguments ended in the training room with too many broken dummies, screamed profanities and disciplinary punishments. How they had came to that point was beyond Gabriel, and he considered himself too old to deal with such teenage drama.

That didn’t stop Jesse from complaining.

Shimada came as Overwatch’s new shinning recruit, the youngest of the Shimada clan and a weapon to be feared, whose only drive was the need to bring down the empire of what once was his family. He was Angela Ziegler’s magnus opus, someone who had signed a deal with the devil to destroy everything he once loved.

Jesse’s dislike towards the new Blackwatch addition felt like a kid that had been displaced by a younger, more talented sibling, despite their skill kit being totally different, because while Genji excelled in stealth missions, no one was a better and faster shooter than Jesse McCree.

Both were the best of the best, and with both being so competitive their rivalry was more than justified, but it still didn’t explain the plain dislike they had towards each other.

_ (“Too annoying” Shimada, when asked about McCree. _

_ “Too much of an ass” McCree, when asked about Shimada.) _

Still, it was a surprise that they hadn’t killed each other despite sleeping in the same room, and they both knew better than hijack each other during missions, because while their dislike towards the other was pretty clear, the fear of facing an angry Commander Reyes brought the fear of God to both recruits.

At least they only bickered when Gabriel was around, and the Commander was extremely thankful of it.

(That didn’t stop the complains of many agents, but after the 3rd week they had all agreed to ignore the pair for the sake of their own sanity)

Gabriel deserved a long vacation, but as a full-time babysitter, because yes instead of Commander he looked more like a babysitter, it was impossible for him to leave his children alone without the fear of coming back and at least 5 of them being dead due to their own stupidity.

And the mission he had assigned to his Special Ops team had come like a life saver, and the long awaited vacations in El Caribe, with a piña colada in hand and enjoying solitude was at his reach.

Too bad it didn’t go as planned.

 

* * *

 

The mission was simple enough: Get inside, rescue the hostages, get out with every hostage alive and hopefully came back base safe and sound.

He should have known, he should have fucking known that assigning this special ops team, also known as the  _ They are my problematic children but I love them anyway _ squad would end like this, especially thanks to Zhang’s new prototype bomb that ended working a bit too well.

The debrief had gone surprisingly well, and that should have been the first sign of how the day would go. His soldiers were respectful, and took the meeting with the seriousness required for this kind of job, but his squad was consisted by more oddities than Overwatch itself. Blackwatch was a second chance for many of them, and even the ones that came with military background like Villablanca, Sinclair and many others, they all had, either willingly or not, a criminal past, so no matter how much he tried there were times when they went… a bit  _ too excited _ .

Either for seeking redemption or for the sake of past memories, it was hard to find the particular reason.

There hadn’t been any bets placed after the debrief, everyone had exited the room in order and Shimada and Jesse had managed to stay silent, a solemn look in their faces, ignoring each other. The mission was easy, and while he normally celebrated the seriousness, it was… unsettling.

That should have gave him the idea. He adored Jesse, he was practically the son he would never have, but by God he knew the cowboy never tended to shut up, so him remaining silent even after debrief could be considered worrisome.

The glances he gave to Shimada, like there was something going and the tension was too great between them was obvious to the Commander. Apparently, McCree and Shimada were highly oblivious of that fact.

It was sad, really, the way they were forced to talk and bond.

 

* * *

 

This is how it goes.

The hostages are safe, the bombs are placed in the right place and everyone is, supposedly, in their position, with a group of 6 scouts checking the basement if there’s someone still there. But it takes one second, a simple mistake and everything can go to hell.

Because even if they had foreseen every possible outcome, a bomb exploding early due to a third-party intervention could destroy weeks of careful planning. In the end, the hostages manage to stay unharmed, but the scouts are trapped in the basement, unable to escape until reinforcements come.

Gabriel can feel a headache slowly making an appearance.

When the list reaches his hands, the strong facade of the mission leader offers little reassurance.

_ Arneth, Klaus _

_ McCree, Jesse _

_ Sinclair, Antoine _

_ Shimada, Genji _

_ Villablanca, Lucía _

_ Zhang, Huojin _

Upon seeing Jesse’s name in the list of MIA, the Commander has to try hard to keep his composure. Seeing Shimada, well… let’s just say that Ziegler wouldn’t appreciate to have her patient back to Medical.

 

* * *

 

“Yup, we’re definitely trapped”

Sinclair’s comment was received with a boot thrown to his face. Considering that he was one of the best snipers among Reyes’ command, he usually tended to say the obvious, something that neither of his trapped companions appreciated.

Giving the current situation, it was surprising that everyone managed to stay mostly unscattered, with the exception of Villablanca who had lost her glasses somewhere and probably had a concussion, Zhang’s twisted ankle, Arneth who had cut his hand trying to move the debris and the boot marks in Sinclair's face . Shimada and McCree, who had been far from the explosion, appeared to be unhurt.

“No shit, Sherlock” Arneth’s angry grunt was seconded by another boot thrown to the poor man.

While Arneth and Sinclair fought like the children they no longer were, and Zhang limped around the basement trying to find something to blast the door of, Villablanca just sat on the floor, her blurry gaze focused on the silent pair, sitting next to each other, apparently “ignoring” the other’s presence.

Sure, it would work work. In a basement, with 4 other people. Ok, there was enough space to ignore each other but they were sitting next to each other…?

_ Suspicious. _

Ok, to their defense, everyone in Blackwatch tended to mind their own business and ignore whatever happened around them even when sitting centimeters from each other, but some of them kept themselves alert of everything that happened around them. So meanwhile Sinclair had the best sight, he was oblivious to whatever happened around him, Arneth who was trying to not kill him and Zhang who should be stopped before they killed everyone in the room but Villablanca didn’t have the strength to do so, or being totally honest, didn’t give a fuck about anything that happened anymore. Shimada and McCree would prove to make her stance in this place somewhat more entertaining.

 

* * *

 

Jesse is familiar with everyone in this room, maybe he knows Villablanca more than any of the others due to the time she had spent in Blackwatch, but the thing is… the only other person in this room that is not busy fighting, trying to blow down the place or trying to stay awake is Shimada.

Shimada, who was his roommate thanks to Reyes. Shimada, who has been his most direct competition, Shimada who refused to bond with anyone due to past experiences but had slowly started to open up to Jesse, much to the surprise of the cowboy. Shimada, someone Jesse McCree considers a friend.

Their relationship had started of harsh comments and bad looks, and had quickly developed into a bad case of rivalry. The first weeks were hard for both, mostly thanks to Jesse’s personality and how much Genji didn’t like it, until they had burned out Reyes’ patience and had been forced to become roommates.

_ Fucking ideal. _

That was months ago.

Now most of their arguments included: “I told you to do the laundry why is your underwear there?”, “That’s not the place to leave a sword” and the most common one, “If I win this round it’s your turn to clean the room”.

How they had come to that point in the course of a few months was surprising, but it was more fun to mess up with the whole Blackwatch and act like they still didn’t like each other, when in reality they marathon old movies in their room and their competitions are more along the lines of playful than murderous.

It’s fun to see Reyes and many other agents try to make them like each other, and honestly if Jesse had to sit and have Lucía lecturing him in her rapid spanish (if there was something frustrating, it was how fast chileans spoke and most of their language was a goddamn mess) about how much they needed the unity within their ranks and that Shimada wasn’t a bad person, then their agreement of keeping whatever this thing was happening between them a secret would end up being revealed out of pure frustration.

( _ “I swear if you still act like an idiot I’ll electrocute you to submission” _

_ “Kinky. How much did Reyes paid you for this?” _

_ “Sadly not enough” _ )

Still, it was… exciting. He felt like a child again who made friends with the kid his parents told him to not befriend, the relationship he would have been forbidden to have as a teenager with the bad boy who had supposedly been in jail. In this story, both ended in jail, either a literal or a metaphorical one.

But enough of that, the situation at hand was annoying and by how his team mates were acting, the most sane thing would be stay in his corner next to Genji and do what they had done best during the past months: ignoring the rest of the world except themselves.

It was almost unnoticeable, but Genji’s posture appeared to be more relaxed next to him. Ok, the ninja training had something to do with the stiff posture and the mask definitely helped to keep all his emotions hidden, but McCree had slowly become one of the best persons to read Genji’s body language. The slight relaxed line of his shoulders, his hands resting limply in his lap, sword next to him and looking at the team doing… things. That was a Genji relaxed, familiar with the current environment, trusting the people he was around with.

Or, more precise, the person he was sitting next to.

It had taken many weeks of trial and error, which had probably threatened their relationship to deteriorate to the point of no return (and those were the weeks when the training room had been destroyed and Reyes almost had an aneurism), with insistent probing to get some other emotion that wasn’t anger from the cyborg. Not his smartest idea, but in the end it had worked. Apparently Genji, once he had realized what the cowboy was trying to do (the emotional constipation was apparently a shared trait among Blackwatch), had accepted the sort-of truce McCree had offered after being lectured by Reyes once again.

Movie nights became a thing, pop culture quizzes during movies, dramatical actings of some scenes and the memorable occasion when Genji had sung with him old country songs during one of the countless “forced bonding” missions Reyes had send them. The many nights Genji had beat him at videogames, showing why he was still Hanamura’s Arcade reigning champion.

( _ “My eye-hand coordination is better than yours, McCree-san” _

_ “Ha! Lies!” _

_ 10 games later and yup, another crushing victory. _

_ “You’re a merciless one, Shimada” _

_ “Well, you asked me to not go easy on you” _ )

It had been hard, no one could deny that, but they had managed to be comfortable around each other, to joke behind closed doors, to troll Reyes in front of his face without the Commander even realizing it. To grow accustomed to have someone to call friend, someone to drink coffee with in the morning, someone not shy to tease and the occasional flirt, and McCree had discovered that yes, the rumors were true, the playboy Genji was in the past had made him a flirt master that made the infamous Jesse McCree blush and stutter on his words.

From trying to kill each other, they had come a long way.

But considering their current predicament, being trapped with 2 soldiers, a mercenary, a chemist and Genji, it was obvious with who would he rather be, even if it would remain a secret from his other teammates.

 

* * *

 

After the first hour, when Zhang had already given up on searching something to blow up the door, the annoying sound of the Nokia tune ringtone ( _ “Are you fucking serious, Villablanca?!” “What? I like it” _ ) broke the stillness of the room.

“It’s the commander” and that got everyone’s attention.

Apparently it would took the whole night to remove the debris without threatening to collapse the basement. At least the man was happy to hear that his team was unharmed, and that Shimada and McCree had yet to kill each other.

“Try to stay warm, you all know how the nights are in the desert and even if you’re underground, you’ll still get cold”

“Yes, sir!”

Start a bonfire would have been a good idea, they still got some ventilation and nights in the desert where known for how cold they were. They had enough supplies and water to last for at least 2 days, even if they knew the rescue would be done by the morning. It was nice, to have enough to stay comfortable, past experiences had made them all go through some kind of similar situation with different degrees of hell.

And with the mention of the bonfire, Zhang already had the materials ready (“I don’t wanna know how you did that”) and Jesse had offered his lighter. Sitting in a circle around the fire had ended being more cozy than uncomfortable, although Arneth still eyed McCree and Shimada like expecting one of them to throw one comment that would end up in trying to separate a fight.

If only Arneth knew.

There weren’t any kind of song, the silence was enough for all of them. It was, during a long time, uncomfortable for Genji to be around people, expecting one of them to attack or comment about his appearance, even having to share a meal around people was a battle for him. McCree had pushed those boundaries to the point Genji had considered ending his life, annoying as the cowboy was. Nowadays, McCree was the only person besides the Commander and Dr. Ziegler he was comfortable enough to take of the mask.

( _“Oh well, look at that. Your eyes are really pretty, Shimada”_ )

But right now, with a team he could trust his life to a certain degree and the man he had slowly learned to trust and possibly lay down his life for, he felt at peace, despite being trapped underground.

 

* * *

 

“I’ll take the first watch”

“Me second”

The infamous Villablanca look ™ was back, an eyebrow raised at the pair. The attitude the pair had around each other differed much from the normal one at the HQ… again, highly suspicious.

“Whatever you say, lovebirds, I’ll take the third one”

Not a single remark at her comment. Oh, interesting.

“Wake me up when your turn is over, Shimada”

If she didn’t really sleep and stayed up the whole night spying the pair, well… no one could prove it, the only lights came from Shimada and what was left of the fire since their flashlights had been turned off. No one could see if an extra pair of eyes were open in the dark.

 

* * *

 

“If you had told me that the mission would have ended like this, I wouldn’t have believed it” Genji said, voice barely audible to anyone but McCree.

“Well, Blackwatch is full of surprises, not even Zhang’s inventions are 100% safe” the fire gave the enough light to show Jesse’s smile, the warm light matching with the warmness of his eyes. “Although we should have expected that”

“What? Us getting trapped?”

“No, Zhang’s bomb exploding early”

The soft laugh, with its robotic undertones, was barely audible, but it was something Jesse treasured. How long had it taken him to get those laughs, without mockery and full of sincerity? Too long, but it was worth it.

They were side by side, Jesse’s arm around Genji’s shoulder, covered with the serape. Genji comfortably resting his head on Jesse’s shoulder, the hard planes of metal he once thought would be unloved fit perfectly at Jesse’s side.

“You do realize all of them think we still hate each other?”

“Well…” Jesse raised an eyebrow, curious about what his partner was going to say, “I believe agent Villablanca is already suspicious”

Jesse groaned in response. “Lucía is way too sharp for her own good, even if she’s going blind she can see more than anyone else” a sigh, and “but who cares? One day or another they’ll discover the truth, Shimada”

“And what truth would be that, Jesse?” even with the mask on, Jesse knew Genji was smirking.

“That you like me”

“I have never said that. I said that I tolerated you”

Jesse’s laugh came louder than intended, but no one moved a muscle. They were acting too carefree, ignoring how much of this little game they had could be blasted in a second if one of their teammates woke up, but it was like they were alone in their own little world, not worried about being discovered. And besides, Sinclair and Arneth were known for being heavy sleepers (trust Jesse, Reyes once had shot one of his shotguns next to the sleeping pair and they didn’t even stir), Zhang had hearing problems due to too many bombs and Villablanca knew how to keep a secret.

“And they say denial is just a river in Egypt…”

“That doesn’t even make sense”

“You still like me either way” Jesse kisses his temple then, and doesn’t mention how Genji’s faceplate gets hot suddenly. He’s smart enough to not comment something that would end with an elbow to his side.

 

* * *

 

 

At some moment of the night, lulled by the heat and the silence of the basement, they fall asleep, in a similar way they had been sitting: backs against the wall, Genji’s head resting on Jesse’s shoulder and Jesse softly snoring, arm still hanging over the cyborg’s shoulder.

It’s a lovely scene, and it would be heartbreaking to shatter it. But they had all called her heartless too many times and she was sure that neither of them wanted to be discovered this way.

There’s no subtle way to wake up Jesse McCree, you either go big or go home. Just a small shock to the side had the man jumping, waking up with him the sleeping cyborg and in a second the woman had a gun pointed to her head and a sword at her throat.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Many things, but I don’t think you would have appreciated being discovered cuddling with Shimada” there was a smug smile on her face, and much to his dismay, McCree could feel himself blushing. “Take it easy, cielo, I’ll keep quiet”

“I… it would be… appreciated”

“At your service, Shimada. Just you know, my silence is not cheap” the groan she received from both men was greatly satisfying.   


 

* * *

 

 

Thankfully to Villablanca’s… “intervention”, their game can keep going on. And just in time, since the screams of Reyes coming from the other side of the debris were becoming more clear the more time passed.

The medical team is the first to come in, and while the scare of Arneth and Sinclair not waking up was enough to set on their alarms, their snores calmed the situation fairly quickly. But when Reyes saw that both McCree and Shimada were in one piece, not a single cut on them and  _ not dead _ , pulled them both in a bone-crushing hug.

“Don’t make me go through this again, please” and that would have been really sweet coming from the Commander if it weren’t for, “or I’ll make you clean the whole HQ with your toothbrushes”

Still, he cared on his own way.

“I’ve a question, tho!” one of the younger recruits, who had seen the McCree-Shimada fights in all their glory, raised their hand. “No offense, sir, but why are you wearin’ that serape?”

_ Oh. _

Because hanging over Genji’s shoulders was still the familiar red serape.

“I think you both have a lot of things to explain” the knowing smile in Reyes’ face promised pain of death if they dared to lie.

“Well…” McCree sighed, resigned to his fate. “Looks like your silence will not be needed anymore, Lucía”

And the cat was out of the bag.

 

* * *

 

 

_ "So you both thought you could keep it a secret? From me?” _

_ “Honestly, sir? Yeah?” _

_ “Jesse, son… I was betting with Ana how long you would both last. Looks like I won $10” _

_ “ _ _ You were betting on us?!” _

 

* * *

 

 

Keeping their relationship a secret was good while it lasted. The teasing they got from the whole Blackwatch, and becoming the first source of gossip... they could have lived without that.

Still, it was good.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I really hope you like this, I had a good time writing it!
> 
> (I can't write accents so... sorry about that. And sorry if this sucks too much)


End file.
